Saturday, July 26, 2008

Of course some blogs get a quarter of a million hits in just a day - still I'm happy to have reached this mini-milestone. I've seen a better daily hit count in the past, but it fluctuates over time so I'm not too concerned. General rule of thumb - keep posting if you want a good hit count. Stop, or slow your postings, and for some reason your hit count goes down. One last thing - it doesn't matter. I wish these hits were coming in from people reading what I had to say, but most are just searching for photographs.

Deploying Your Dark AngelsTo Glide Through Our Night SkiesLeaving Their Sooty Trails Of DarknessWithin Your Clouds So BlueYet Never Seen Are Your AngelsUpon Our Radar ScreensBut They Are There So True

Praise Be Upon You

You Have Cooled And Made DenseThe AtmosphereWhich Rest Above Our ContinentYou Have Laid Your Mighty Shield To DeflectAway The Evil Twisters Which Veer InsteadToward Mexico, Central America, and BermudaFor They Deserve Punishment More Than WeFor They Are Poor

Oh Thank You Oh Mighty Magical CreatureFor You Are Kind And Good To Those WhoCan Afford The Cost Of Praising You

May You Lend Your Protection ToThis Land And Keep Our Oil Prices Relatively LowSo That The People Of This Land May RemainAsleep Forever, and Ever, and EverAs To The Cost Of Global Warming

So That Our Leaders May ContinueTo Be Controlled By The Oil CompaniesAnd Plunge The World Into An IrreversibleClimate Crisis Which Will Lead To MassiveFamine, Floods, Droughts, and Mega Storms

Praise You Oh Omnipotent CreatureFor This Quick Fix During Another Political SeasonOne Which Must Have Low Oil PricesSo As To Sedate The Masses

Praise You Oh Omniscient CreatureFor Using Global Dimming To Protect Our MainlandEven Though This Will Trap Even Greater AmountsOf Heat Within The Atmosphere Which Will Lead ToEven More And Larger Hurricanes Which Must BeCovertly Directed Into Neighboring Countries

Praise You Magical CreaturePraise You Great Big InvisibleMagic CreatureYour Will Be Done

Why A Magic Prayer?

Since the general public of the U.S. is scientifically illiterate, and therefore predictably as religious as say - Saudi Arabia or Iran, I felt a prayer would be in order. So Please Pray Along To The Great Big Invisible Magic Creature Who Controls Our Weather.

All Hogwash, Right?

Let's look at the following article which places what is already being done covertly as something which may someday be done in the FUTURE (I always love these type of articles. Remember there's a huge difference between steering a hurricane and stopping one):

The damage done to New Orleans in 2005 has spurred two rival teams of climate experts, in America and Israel, to redouble their efforts to enable people to play God with the weather.

Under one scheme, aircraft would drop soot into the near-freezing cloud at the top of a hurricane, causing it to warm up and so reduce wind speeds. Computer simulations of the forces at work in the most violent storms have shown that even small changes can affect their paths – enabling them to be diverted from major cities..

MY COMMENT: But aircraft could not do this already to storms approaching metropolitan areas to prevent flooding, and tornadoes? No, that's way into the future - like in the time of Star Wars.

But the hurricane modifiers are fighting more than the weather. Lawyers warn that diverting a hurricane from one city to save life and property could result in multi-billion dollar lawsuits from towns that bear the brunt instead. Hurricane Katrina caused about $41 billion in damage to New Orleans.

MY COMMENT: Which is one reason why the program remains covert in the U.S.

Hurricanes form when air warmed over the ocean rises to meet the cool upper atmosphere. The heat turns to kinetic energy, producing a spiral of wind and rain. The greater the temperature differences between top and bottom, and the narrower the eye of the hurricane, the faster it blows.

Moshe Alamaro, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), told The Sunday Telegraph of his plans to "paint" the tops of hurricanes black by scattering carbon particles – either soot or black particles from the manufacture of tyres – from aircraft flying above the storms. The particles would absorb heat from the sun, leading to changes in the airflows within the storm. Satellites could also heat the cloud tops by beaming microwaves from space.

"If they're done in the right place at the right time they can affect the strength of the hurricane," Mr Alamaro said.

The theory has so far been tested only in computer simulation by Mr Alamaro's colleague, Ross Hoffman. Mr Alamaro said: "With small changes to this side or that side of the hurricane we can nudge it and change its track. We're starting with computer simulations, then will hopefully experiment on a small weather system."

Last month scientists at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem announced that they had simulated the effect of sowing clouds with microscopic dust to cool the hurricane's base, also weakening it. The dust would attract water but would form droplets too small to fall as rain. Instead, they would rise and evaporate, cooling hot air at the hurricane base.

In findings presented at a conference in Trieste, Italy, the team led by Daniel Rosenfeld demonstrated that dust dropped into the lower part of Hurricane Katrina would have reduced wind speeds and diverted its course.

MY COMMENT: So by doping clouds with carbon dust (soot) at various levels we can break up clouds, force precipitation, change direction of weather fronts? This is crazy talk I tell you! Crazy talk! Soon enough these experts are going to sound like me! All they'll have to do is throw in some artificial lightning, and they'll be paranoid insaniacs too.

The MIT team has now hired a professor of risk management to advise on steps necessary to protect themselves from legal action by communities affected if a hurricane is diverted. It is pressing for changes to US law and for an international treaty to settle possible disputes between neighbouring countries.

Mr Alamaro said: "The social and legal issues are daunting. If a hurricane were coming towards Miami with the potential to cause damage and kill people, and we diverted it, another town or village hit by it would sue us. They'll say the hurricane is no longer an act of God, but that we caused it."

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Occassionally my cat Koshi's nose seems to look bruised. During these times he seems sort of depressed, and a bit less social. I don't believe it is Feline Upper Respiratory Disease as I've seen that before, and Koshi has none of the nasal drip, nasality in breathing, or general flu-like symptoms associated with that feline disorder.

If you look at the photo of Koshi Kat {above} you'll notice a set of dark bands lower on his nose. I took this photo three to four days ago, and these dark areas are already completely gone.

They almost make me believe that Koshi has run into something while chasing one of our other cats, and that he has a bruised nasal area. This might explain it, but I wonder if anyone else has seen this.

Koshi has gone through this before, and he almost always wants to stay away from the other cats when this happens. Perhaps he lost a fight? I doubt that since he's the dominant male cat - but maybe as I've seen him with scratches on his nose before.

Koshi is mostly white, and my other cats are darker so I have no other cats to compare with.

Monday, July 21, 2008

British Petroleum, or Beyond Petroleum if you wish, has gone beyond "global warming denial", and has begun to invest in renewable energy sources. While BP doesn't accept that peak oil conditions will hit any time soon they do admit the need to address climate change - and soon.

The Youtube video which is included in this post presents a real university lecture. The lecture is an hour and twenty five minutes long so start up another browser window and keep surfing while you listen to the lecture - if you don't mind missing out on the interesting slide show.

Consider this - when oil companies stop pretending that there's no relationship between human activity, increasing carbon dioxide levels, and global warming (thus a climate crisis) it's time to give it up - you global warming deniers - you know who you are.

Now I am not as informed on the myriad of subjects which are touched upon in this factoid intense lecture, however, I suspect that BP is playing it pretty conservative with their figures. Despite this concern it is remarkible that an oil company can be vastly more open, and honest that the Bush-Exxon Administration has been about America's oil addiction, and the ill effects that addiction has brought about.

Lecture Information

Steve Koonin - Energy Trends and Technologies for the Coming Decades

In his talk organized by UCSD's Center for Energy Research as part of its Distinguished Lecture Series, co-sponsored by General Atomics with support from Calit2, BP chief scientist Steve Koonin will talk about the company's push into biofuels and the role universities can play. As chief scientist, Koonin is responsible for BP's long-range technology plans and activities, particularly those "beyond petroleum." He also has purview over BP's major university research programs around the world and provides technical advice to the company's senior executives.